27 questions you should ask yourself before starting a business

Starting a business is one of the most important steps in life for most people. Even if many things turn out differently afterwards than you think, the following are some of the important questions you should ask yourself before starting a business:

1. Why do I want to become self-employed?
2. What is the big goal I am pursuing with self-employment?
3. Which service or product do I want to offer exactly?
4. What are the characteristics of my customer target group?
5. How do I get paying customers?
6. How do I make my company, my products and my services known to the target group?
7. Which cooperation partners are there that could help me to win new customers?
8. What synergies could I use to make my own services and/or products even more attractive?
9. What are my strengths and how can I use them?
10. What are my weaknesses and how can I compensate for them?
11. What values are important to me as an entrepreneur?
12. What are my daily tasks as an entrepreneur?
13. Can I manage these tasks myself, do I need external help or do I need to acquire additional knowledge?
14. What are my advantages over competitors? What are the weaknesses of competitors that I can exploit?
15. How much money do I need to finance my regular life?
16. How much money does it cost to set up? How much money do I need for my basic business equipment?
17. What are the running costs for me as an entrepreneur?
18. What income do I need to cover my entrepreneurial and personal costs?
19. How do I want to reach this income level?
20. What hourly rate, product or service price do I have to charge?
21. How do I finance the transitional period until my business makes a profit that I can live on?
22. What legal form is appropriate for the company?
23. What are the tasks to be completed before setting up the business?
24. What are my tasks in the first 100 days as an entrepreneur?
25. Where do I want to be in a year after setting up?
26. How do I want to name my business?
27. Are the corresponding domain names or social media names still available? Are there already companies with the same (or a similar) name on the market?
28. What free (and paid) consultancy services are there that I can use?

Photocredit: AndreasF. / photocase.de